Anywhere but here
by Angel Shinigami
Summary: Duo has been sent to L2 and seemingly forgoten, what will our long haired loudmouth do when fate seems to leave him no options? Can you ever really over come your birth or are you bound to it by a red string? 1x2 Yaoi!
1. Chapter 1

Somewhere in the world it was sunny and warm and just the right weather that short shorts and tank tops were the preferred clothing choice.

Somewhere in the world kids were playing tag in the park and lovers were walking hand in hand through the man made winding forest path for alittle bit of seclusion.

Somewhere in the world elderly people were calmly feeding ducks and playing chess with old friends and accusing the other of cheating...

But that is somewhere in the world…and this is L2.

My name is Duo Maxwell. I am seventeen, I think. I have lived through a plague, and fire, two wars, and multiple death threats and attempts, and that was all before I turned the legal age to drink…not that I don't already, but it's the principle of the thing.

I live in a small, more than alittle run down apartment and have very little food to call my own. But I'm used to that aspect of my life.

I would say that I have a great job and great friends, and I guess along time ago I did, but now…I don't.

I used to work with a group of guys, all of us fought for the peace and tranquility that reigns in every nook and cranny of the galaxy, accept for L2. After the wars the five of us joined together with past acquaintances to form a police like task force that would be able to go any where and prevent anything from happening to the peace we'd worked so hard for.

It worked for awhile…until the director, Lady Une, informed us of a situation on one specific colony.

0-0-0-0-0-0

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it has come to my attention that the law enforcement on colony L2 is non existent. We have been asked to send people in to help them re establish their system and to hopefully stop the slowly deteriorating morality of the citizens."

The brunette looked directly to her left and locked eyes with the woman that sat there.

"Sally, you will go to L2 and help the people…I'm count-"

She never finished her sentence because Sally shook her head in a definite negative sign and cut her off.

"I'm sorry Lady, I can't go. I am expecting in a few months…" Major Sally Po, a former member of OZ turned rebel, said logically, knowing that her condition would keep her from leaving earth for many months to come.

0-0-0-0-0-0

That's when the excuses started to pour down like rain, and some stunk worse than the guy I live next to.

Heero was protecting Relena on her next peace tour, not that she needed one. It was surprising the girl could even fit though doorways anymore with as much as her ego was inflated by the turn outs of her talks, which most people slept though anyways.

Trowa was already on assignment in Brazil, doing something only Lady Une knew about.

Quatre was in business negotiations with several very influential companies about the benefits of having Preventers for security details, and couldn't leave because he was at crucial points in all dealings.

And Wufei…well, Wufei actually wasn't at the meeting, he had been forced to take some time off and relax… doctor's orders.

Guess who that left…

You guessed it, me. Lady Une never even asked Noin of Zechs, or even Hilde, she just looked at me for a minuet, looked at my file, and told me to pack my things. She never even asked if I had an excuse, which I didn't…well…not a believable one any ways.

So I was packed off and sent up here…but what I found wasn't what I expected.

L2 had a perfectly fine police force. Perfectly healthy and vary well fed. And the neighbor hoods were clean and new and looked like a million bucks, and I was pretty sure they were.

But that was just on the surface…a pretty little picture for the inspectors and Relena herself. But if anyone ever cared to take a second look, they would see L2 hadn't changed a bit. It had gotten ten times worse.

Cops were crooked and lazy. They never patrolled and only acted like they did something when a rich person had done something wrong, but the evidence always mysteriously disappeared or the case was dismissed…

The poverty was just as bad as it had been when I was young. Hookers and Pimps on every corner, thieves and con artists in every ally. Not a safe place anywhere, not even houses.

Don't get me wrong, I tried to do my job. I went into the precinct and spoke to the head of operations, but was laughed at and humored for about two months.

At the two month point I had had enough. I decided that if I couldn't help the people from the outside, I would help them from the inside.

I didn't bother with calling Une, I knew she wouldn't care. In her eyes L2 was a problem and she had sent someone to solve it. And either they would or they would come back and she would send someone else.

I had been told to 'help the people'. So that's what I was going to do.

I packed my stuff and moved from the apartment I had been renting, at double what I paid back home for bigger, and moved into a smaller hole in the wall above a bakery that sold more than just sugar cookies and sticky buns.

I figured I'd be fine in my little place, I had a gun for protection and a heart full of hope, I even had seven hundred credits and the promise of more with my next paycheck.

I had tried hard to help the people of L2, but I knew I was doing something wrong, no one would respond to me.

I was an outsider looking in at a world I had once been a large part of, someone that was trying to change peoples' lives without asking if they wanted to change. I realized then that just living around them wouldn't work, I had to be one of them again…I had to…to help the people I had to be one of the people. I had to have the same voice that they did.

I had to know their pain once more and feel their anguish…

It would be another two months before I actually realized that I had no choice in the matter anymore. It had been four months since I had told Preventers payroll of my change of address, and I had yet to receive even one check. I had even gone directly to the post office and ordered to have my pay check given to me, I had even pulled a gun on them and waved it around alittle bit. But they didn't have it. Nothing with my name had ever even passed though the loading station doors.

I have four dollars and no hope of getting more money anytime soon. I was in deep hot water…

So I made the only choice I could. I pawned my nice shirts, pants, and shoes; Preventers uniform included, and received around four hundred for the lot of it. With that money I could've got a shuttle ride home, but I didn't.

I went out and bought what I'd need for my 'new' life.

I got it all for semi cheep to. I made my way though the back streets of L2, past the good brothels, past the bad ones, around the opium dins, and through the gang lands, until I came across a little shop surrounded by other little shops in the middle of Red Light, The district for the strip clubs and bars.

The shops wasn't anything special on the outside, all it was, was cracked brown bricks and a simple sign that said 'Jonathan's' in bold black letters.

I took a deep breath as I entered the shop. Memories assaulted me from all around, everything from the leather whips on the far walls to the pink feather dusters to my left. Everything looked just as it had during the first war.

"Oh…My…God…" Came a heavily lisped tenor from my right. "Duo Maxwell, A year older and a year prettier…"

I looked over towards the voice and I smiled a true smile for the first time in about six months.

"Jonathan, you don't know how much I missed you." I said, moving across the room in two strides and enveloping the other man in a very tight hug.

"Ah baby, what's wrong?" The boy asked, wrapping his slender white arms around me.

Those gentle words were all I needed to poor out all of my frustration and pain, my fears and crumpled dreams, everything, and when I was done, I felt alittle better.

"Wow, well, no worries baby, Jonathan will take care of you."

I took a deep breath and stepped away from my friend, a smile flirting with my lips and my spirits back to their normal radiant levels.

"Tell me what to do," I said, ready to get back into the real swing of things here in L2.

"Well, first that ratty shirt and pants set, You know that, go get changed and then work front while I go out."

I didn't even question those odd orders, or what would have been odd orders to anyone that didn't know Jonathan as well as I did.

"You got it boss,"

I skipped into the back, grabbing random pieces of clothing from the racks and disappearing into the back to change from the disgusting and unwashed clothing I'd been in for weeks.

"And shower for goodness sake!" came a pleading tone from the front.

I chuckled softly and turned the lock on the door before stripping and stepping underneath the slightly rusting shower head that rested on the opposite wall from the door.

'The back room' was just a large room that was used for everything imaginable, and yes, even that. The room had a concrete floor with a drain in the center, a toilet in the far corner and a large step stool in the other.

"It could be worse," I said to myself as I took down my hair and began to wash it with the shampoo that was sitting on the floor next to my feet. "I can't think how, but it could've been."

After scrubbing my knee length hair very thoroughly before rinsing it and then slathering it with conditioner, I picked up the slightly dirty, but useable bar of soap and began to clean my body, letting my hair soak up the moisture that it so desperately needed.

"So," a lisped voice said, closer than it should've sounded for the door being locked. "Wanna tell me your story?"

I opened my eyes and rose my eyebrow at the blonde who was casually leaning against the doorframe of the wide open door.

"Do you mind?" I asked, turning so my hair covered my body, one of the wonderful things about long hair in general.

"No," Jonathan answered, "Continue…"

I chuckled and shrugged, turning around and rinsed out my hair, not really caring that my body was being exposed, Jonathan had seen it before, and I knew that he didn't really care.

"I thought I had found a family, then came to find out that they couldn't wait to get rid of me. I haven't heard from them in longer than I care to admit to myself."

Telling Jonathan my story in fuller detail as I got dressed, in truth, it made me feel better to tell the flaming man, and it made me feel even better when he laughed at me and walked out of the room.

"You always were a bit soft for L2 Duo, never change…"

o.o.o.o.o.o

Ok, it's short, but what do you think? I own Jonathan, please don't use him without permission, he is very prissy and I'd hate for him to corrupt even more people than he already has.

Review and tell me what you think, thanks

Kat


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. Remember!!!! I don't own GW that is the last time I'll say that. Enjoy.

Chapter 2

o.o.o.o.o.o

I never asked how Jonathan had unlocked the door that could only be opened from the inside and he didn't tell me. I tossed it up to the fact that he was Jonathan and no other explanation was needed.

"So, I'm going out, don't wait up cutie." The tiny blonde winked in my general direction and blew a kiss at me.

I waved half heartedly as I tied the side of the lace-up black pleather pants tightly, if I gave away the surprise, what would be the point in looking for daydreaming purposes right?

Next came the black pleather vest, unzipped to the middle of my stomach, with knee high boots and a large black belt around my waist to finish off the look.

Now, those who know me, know that I look good in anything I wear and that I am not being conceded when I say it either, but for the first time in the past year and some odd, I really felt sexy again.

I didn't bother with braiding my hair as I walked around the counter and picked up Jonathan's 'Power Trip', a pretty sleazy version of 'Cosmopolitan', more leaning towards 'Playboy' than anything else.

Truly, I wasn't paying attention to the magazine, I was thanking Shinigami for looking out for my stupid ass.

Now that I thought about my actions over the past couple of months, I must admit, they were terribly stupid, Stupid, but necessary. The only part of my uniform that'd I'd kept was my badge and my gun, those were two things that I'd never let leave my person.

Even now, as I sat calmly at the counter, my gun was strapped to my thigh in a very caviler way, and my badge, which was clipped to the side of my belt. It gave me an edgy look that most people will love.

I'd go into detail about my first night at Jonathan's, but nothing happened. And trust me, when I say nothing, I mean, _nothing_. No one came in, no one even passed by. It was boring to say the least.

But it didn't stay that way, soon people realized we were open around the clock and people practically swarmed us.

Sleep practically became a thing of memory for me. I worked the night shift so Jonathan could go out and when he got back we both worked the late shift before he went to sleep and I covered the morning swing. Then I would crash for about an hour or two, before getting back up and getting pretty for a new day.

Side note!

I've been on L2 for a year now, I've been here at Jonathan's for eight months of said year and everything is good. I have food, clothing, clean water, and most importantly, I am helping the people I was sent here to help. I'm not an outsider anymore; I am once more one of the L2 trash no one wants to acknowledge.

Anyways, let me tell you about what happened around October of the next year.

"Duo babe," Jonathan called, "Man the front, I have to go out early tonight."

I looked at the blonde as I passed, raising an eyebrow at his milk maid attire.

"Damn…look who put the 'Ho' in 'Ho down'," I said, chuckling to myself as he flipped me off and put on a straw cowboy hat.

"Fuck you Maxwell, you're just jealous that you don't have my ass."

"Oh yes, because I want my ass to be the biggest part on my body…" I sarcastically retorted, winking at Jonathan to show that I meant no harm.

"Bitch," He shot back, shoving his feet into a pair of stiletto cowboy boots. "I'm going to a costume party, thing, with some…delegation, a large group of four, lord knows how kinky this could get. Where is my watering can?"

"No clue, check upstairs…" I said, turning and hopping up onto the counter top, once again picking up 'Power Trip', the magazine I was quickly becoming addicted to, it's the articles, I swear.

Today the retards, for lack of a better name to call them, that controlled the weather, had decided to cook everyone like a fried egg. It was 110 degrees outside and I was never more grateful for air conditioning.

In light of the heat, I had chosen to forego my normal black leather, for a white off the shoulder cotton top that exposed all of my stomach and was trimmed in violet lace that was ruffled around the top, the bottom, and the puffed sleeves. I was also wearing white Daisy Dukes and an adorable pair of violet Mary Jane styled stiletto spikes.

My hair was down because I had just gotten out of the shower and it was keeping me cool in the stifling heat. I had neglected to put on anymore make up than a line of black eyeliner, because I was afraid that it would melt off and that would not be attractive in the least.

So, there I sat, ignoring the heat the best way I knew how, when I heard the large cowbell that I had tied to the door start to ring, well…clang really, but hey, at least it let us know there were people around.

"Welcome to Jonathan's," I said, not putting down my magazine, to lazy to actually care to be overly seductive, my clothing and body language was doing enough of that for me as it was. "Anything I can help you with today? Whips, chains, flavored lube?"

I was pretty sure there was more than just one person in the shop, but so what right? People came in together to shop in groups all the time, maybe they were whores looking for something that fit them all, it has happened before.

"Um, no Miss," Answered the sweet voice, a male voice that sounded a lot like Quatre. I twitched at being called, 'Miss', especially by a voice that brought pain into my stable world.

"Hey, babe, do I look like a 'Miss' to you?" I asked, looking up to find the shock of my life, and I was pretty sure they were shocked as well.

In front of me stood four people I swore I would punch if I ever saw again. They were all wearing black tuxes and looking very sharp. The money practically oozed from them and I found myself becoming more and more pissed each second they stood in my presence.

"Oh…my…" The small blue eyed blonde whispered, taking a step forward and reaching out a hand, as if I were going to taking it and pull him into a hug or something. "Duo, Is that you?"

"No, I'm the fucking Easter bunny." I said, spinning around and hopping off the counter, completely ignoring his hand. "Now what brings the likes of you to the slums of L2?"

It was Wufei that answered in his normal, 'I'm so superior' way, not that I really cared if he thought he was better than me.

"We are here to pick up a guide that Zechs set up for us. We are to take him to the Annual Preventers Ball. It is being held on L2 this year. Why are you here Maxwell? Are you our guide?"

I blinked at the lot of them, my look clearly asking if they were cracked or something close to that.

"I didn't know that the ball was being held here."

For the moment my anger had disappeared into a cloud of confused smoke. Why hadn't I gotten an invitation? Why?

"No…no I'm not your guide, I didn't even know the ball was happening…"

"Then why are you here?" Quatre asked, "Are you undercover?"

I walked around the counter and leaned on the glass case, showing off my exposed body in all its perfection.

"No, I work here. Jonathan will be down soon."

With that I moved to walk off to greet the newest costumer that had just entered the store, when I felt a strong, calloused hand encircle my upper arm.

"You will stay and talk with us," Heero's nasally yet smooth voice commanded and pleaded at the same time. "Why are you here, why aren't you at headquarters?"

"Why?" I repeated angrily. "Why is because you left with the queen of pink and I wasn't given a choice about coming back here or not. No one called to find out how I was doing, if I needed any help, when I was coming back, nothing."

"After four months, I was back on the streets. The _streets_ Heero! A place I swore to myself I would never be again! But I guess it just the same…what was it that Wufei said during the war… 'Those of low breeding will return to what they know, no matter how high they climb.'"

The Chinese man to my left had the decency to look ashamed as I glared at him. Those words had stung, even back then, but I had laughed them off, so sure that that would never happen to me because I promised myself I would never go hungry again.

"I guess you were right, because look where I am, look what I'm doing…again."

Once again I turned to leave and no one stopped me. I was pretty sure I had given them all plenty to think about as I walked over to the tall red head that was looking at the flail selection.

"Looking for you or for someone special?" I asked, banging on the wall of the stair case to let Jonathan know that his group was here.

"For me," the red head answered. "I want to play with my partner and thought I'd get it for him as a gift…"

"Aw, how sweet," I said, leaning close to him and pulling out a white flail with plastic lined strips. "This will give a nice snap and leave good welts with out breaking the skin if it is only being used for play and not torture. I can give you a…..demonstration…." I offered, snapping the flail in my hand and looking the boy up and down.

The red head shook his head and smiled. "That's ok, really I am only looking, I have been saving for months and am not sure if I'm going to get anything right now, I might shop around."

I motioned for him to follow me and made sure to swing my hips and a very alluring way, attracting both the red head's attention and my ex-comrades attention as well.

"Let's see just see how much it is, one white vinyl flail, will be…oh darn this thing, I keep telling Jonathan we need to get a new scanner, but do we have the money…"

I smirked to myself as I leaned over the glass case, sticking my rear into the air and wiggling it a bit, spreading my legs in a way that even the most experienced whore would applaud as I groaned alittle and moaned, gasping and tossing my head back in pleasure as I 'finally' managed to get the scanner working and stood up properly.

"That'll be $86.20," I said breathlessly, as I hopped up on the counter and dangled the flail between my spread legs. "You sure you want to look else where?"

The red head looked ready to burst free from his pants at any moment, he was practically stroking himself right there in front of me and the other boys in the room and he didn't look like he cared.

"No…that's ok," He said, reaching into his pocket, taking longer than one would expect to pull out his money, but what can you expect, I am that sexy.

I took the money and counted it out noting he'd handed me twice what I quoted. "Would you like anything else to go along with this?"

The man's eyes were glazed and I licked my lips, just adding to his fantasy as I grabbed a pair of handcuffs and a tickler and put them in a black and gold etched bag.

"Have fun," I murmured, slowly winking as I handed him the bag and twenty dollars back.

As the man walked out of the shop, stiffly and alittle wet in certain places, I heard the sound of slow clapping to the left of me, the sound snapping the other four out of their thoughts and most likely, fantasies.

"And that gentlemen, is why I keep this one around. He is sex on two legs and can sell anything with a well placed moan or two."

I crossed my legs and smirked at the stunned ex-pilots who were coughing and adjusting themselves slightly, even Wufei who I would've sworn was straight what with being married at one point and dating Sally and all.

"Now Duo, be good while I'm gone, and if that guy comes back for more, you know what to do." Jonathan said sweetly, swatting my on the thigh and winking.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Oh guys, what do you think? Yes yes yes, this is very different from my nomal stuff, but I would like to say that I do not own the Gundam Characters, but Jonathan, and his store are mine. If I see anyone taking him, I'll hurt you…

Review please, it keeps me writing.

Kat


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